Choosing a Place to Live

Why it's as important as picking a spouse.

A Q&A with Richard Florida

The world is not flat, says Richard Florida, contrary to the bestselling book by New York Times writer Thomas Friedman. Florida, author of his own bestselling book, The Rise of the Creative Class,
and a professor of business and creativity at the University of
Toronto, argues that while Friedman is correct in saying that
technology has reshaped the world, it has not created a level playing
field. With newly accumulated data to back him up, Florida argues in
his upcoming book Who's Your City? that the world is, in many
ways, spiky—with population, opportunity, innovation, and money
increasingly coalescing in metropolitan areas worldwide. That means
pursuing a career and staying close to family and friends are often at
odds. Deciding what makes you happy, he argues, must go hand in hand
with deciding where you want to live. Recently, Florida spoke with U.S. News. Excerpts:

What makes Friedman wrong?

I had this intuitive sense that the world wasn't flat. I kind of knew
that globalization was pulled between these two forces: one that
spreads out, like factories, and the other, this compelling fact that
50 percent of people live in urban places. We found that distribution
of economic activity is even more concentrated than distribution of
population. Then we got data from the U.S. Patent Office that showed
where inventors are located, and then we combined that with data from
the world. We looked at distributions of innovations; they are even
more concentrated. So, in a sense, as you go up the ladder, the world
got more and more concentrated. Then this idea came to me that the
world is not flat. It's spiky. That's not to say that Tom Friedman is
wrong. I think he gets about half the equation right. A lot of things
in the world's economy can be decentralized, but my hunch is those are
not the central thing to the world economy. The most important
dimensions of the world's economy continue to concentrate.

If we can fly anywhere, call anywhere, videoconference anywhere, why is place so important?

Innovative people cluster together. When we do that we increase each
other's productivity. A group of researchers at the Santa Fe Institute
call it an "urban metabolism." As our cities grow they get faster and
faster, better and better, more and more innovative. Some don't, and
they die. That's why economic activity spikes, because of these
conglomerations of energy and talent. Jack White left Detroit where he
created the sound of the White Stripes to be part of the music
conglomeration of Nashville.

What does this mean for the economy?

The spikes of economic activity are spreading out. It's not China we're
competing with, it's Shanghai. It's not India we're competing with,
it's Bangalore. These countries are even spikier than the U.S. and
Europe.

In the book, you worry about the places that aren't spiking.

The spikes are growing so high they're leaving the valleys behind. We
don't have a North-South conflict. It's the world's peaks versus the
world's valleys, and that frankly bothers me.

You go so far as to call the spiky world "tricky and even treacherous."

Right. We can see it in this election. It's really giving rise to class
conflict. We are starting to see a backlash against cities, and a
backlash against people who live in them. Urban conglomerations are the
single most important thing to our competitiveness, yet people won't
talk about it. And the second thing that worries me is we're unable to
talk about those being left behind. We're stuck in a stalemate. I would
like to see everyone live better.

So, how does all this relate to happiness?

The point of the book is to help people make better decisions. You have
to understand that economic activity isn't spread out. So there's a
trade-off we have to make between furthering our career and finding a
lifestyle that fits us. Being economically mobile can mean you
sacrifice all the rootedness in family relations.

How do we make the best decision?

We said calculators and quizzes only take you so far. So we said we're
going to give you a 10-point list on how to place yourself. We say you
have to go talk to the people who live in a place, and you have to go
visit. If you don't you're bound to be disappointed. Correcting the
wrong place decision is on the border of correcting a wrong
relationship decision or employment decision. So you have to be careful
about it.

What factors matter most?

You have to say, "My career means this much to me; my lifestyle means
this much to me. I'm married with kids; I have to find schools. I'm
young and single, and I need to find partners." You have to balance all
that. The book tries to give you a sense of how to do that.

Do people realize their happiness is closely linked to place?

Absolutely not. People don't even think about it. But when you ask them
you begin to discover their place is a critical contributor to their
happiness. Generally speaking, place tends to the positive side of the
happiness ledger. That was surprising to us. When we asked people about
the source of stress in their life, place came in last. If you find a
place that fits you, it gives you more energy. People have always been
attracted to aesthetics. The other thing is infrastructure. Maybe you
like to go outside, or ride your bike. Those things are critically
important. What people are saying is they are not going to be fulfilled
in a place that just has a good pipe system. They want to live in a
place that gives them excitement and energy.

Comments

On happiness being linked to place -- I believe that it's something people don't think about until they are really unhappy somewhere they've moved. Then, as you say, it's almost more complicated to "dump" a city than to break up with a significant other or quit your job.

Certainly, that was my experience and that of many people I've spoken with who have moved.

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